Thursday, November 22, 2007

Amazing Golden Temples in the world

There is competition for the Golden Temple in Amristar. A golden tribute to the Goddess of Wealth is in the offing, 1.5 tonnes of gold has been used to cover over 55,000 sq.ft area of the Lakshmi Narayani Temple on the outskirts of Vellore District in Tamil Nadu.Standing right in the middle of a sprawling 100 acre landscape, it's a vision of a 30 year old spiritual guru Sri Sakthi Amma. While over 800 artisans from Thirupathi and Madurai have worked for six years. Devotees of this foundation from around the world had made huge contributions.

Golden temple - Amritsars, India

Golden temple of Dambulla, Srilanka

A sacred pilgrimage site for 22 centuries, this cave monastery, with its five sanctuaries, is the largest, best-preserved cave-temple complex in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist mural paintings (covering an area of 2,100 m2) are of particular importance, as are the 157 statues. Links WHTour : visit this site in panographies (360 degree imaging)

Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar

No one knows exactly when the Shwedagon Paya [wiki] (or Pagoda) in Myanmar was built - legend has it that it is 2,500 years old though archaeologists estimate that it was built between the 6th and 10th century.Now, when people say “golden temple” they usually mean that the structure is golden in color. But when it comes to the Shwedagon Pagoda, golden literally means covered in gold! In the 15th century, a queen of the Mon people donated her weight in gold to the temple. This tradition continues until today, where pilgrims often save for years to buy small packets of gold leafs to stick to the temple walls.As if all that gold wasn’t enough, the spire of the stupa or dome is covered with over 5,000 diamonds and 2,000 rubies (there’s even a 76 carat diamond at the very tip!). And oh, the temple housed one of the holiest relics in Buddhism: eight strands of Buddha’s hair.